The
Grey Cup (in ) is both the name of the
championship of the
Canadian
Football League (CFL) and the name of the trophy awarded to the
victorious team. It is Canada's largest annual sports and
television event, regularly drawing a Canadian viewing audience of
about 4 million.
Like the
Stanley Cup used in the
National Hockey League, the
Grey Cup is reused every year. This varies from other professional
sports leagues, which make a new (but identical) trophy every
season for the new champion. Similarly, the Grey Cup also has the
name of the winning players, coaches, and management staff
(President & General Manager) engraved on its
chalice.
History
In
1909, the Grey Cup was donated by the
Governor General of
Canada, Earl Grey, to
recognize the top amateur rugby football team in Canada
. By
this time,
Canadian football had
become markedly different from the
rugby
football from which it developed. Over time, the Grey Cup
became the property of the Canadian Football League as it evolved
into a professional football league. Amateur teams ceased competing
for the Cup by
1954; since
1965, the top amateur teams, playing in
Canadian Interuniversity
Sport (CIS), have competed for the
Vanier
Cup.
The Grey Cup has long served as an unofficial Canadian fall
festival generating a large amount of national media coverage,
celebration and fan interest across Canada. Many fans travel from
across the country to partake in the week of festivities that lead
up to the game.
Historians date the carnival-like activities
associated with the game back to 1948, when fans of the western
champion Calgary Stampeders
dressed in western gear, square danced,
flipped flapjacks, partied in the streets
of Toronto and rode a horse through the lobby of the posh Royal York
Hotel
.
With the addition of American-based teams beginning in 1993, the
possibility of the Grey Cup being hoisted by a team south of the
49th Parallel
loomed large. In 1994, the Baltimore Stallions (as they were
referred to then because of an injunction issued on the behalf of
the NFL to prevent this team from using the Colts name) played in
the Grey Cup in Vancouver against the home B.C. Lions. A late
fumble on the goal line by Baltimore quarterback
Tracy Ham gave the B.C. Lions a chance and
Lui Passaglia connected on a
game-winning FG as time expired, driving the sellout crowd at BC
Place into a nationalist frenzy. This patriotic nationalism would
be tested further in 1995 when the
Baltimore Stallions returned to the Grey
Cup against the favoured Calgary Stampeders led by
Doug Flutie. Baltimore won the game 37-20 and
took the Grey Cup south for a bittersweet parade as
Art Modell, owner of the
NFL
Cleveland Browns, announced his
move to Baltimore for the 1996 season only one week before the Grey
Cup. After the 1995 season, American-based teams, many of whom were
running into financial problems, folded.
Only the Baltimore
franchise remained and it relocated to Montreal
.
The Grey Cup has been broken several times. The trophy was broken
in 1978 when
Tom
Wilkinson and
Danny Kepley dropped
it, and in 1987 when a celebrating
Edmonton Eskimos player sat on it. It was
again broken in 1993 when it was head-butted by Edmonton's
Blake Dermott. During the victory celebration
immediately following the
94th Grey
Cup game in
2006, the winning
BC Lions accidentally broke the cup from its base,
which contains the engraved names of the players on each year's
winning team. It was repaired the following Monday. Other notable
events include a
1947 fire which almost
destroyed the trophy and a
1969 theft in which
the trophy was held for ransom. A replica cup was made in
2008.
In November 2006, the CFL confirmed that they were entertaining
offers from corporate partners for the
naming rights of the Grey Cup. Though the
naming rights would apply to the Grey Cup championship game and not
the trophy itself, many objected to the idea, claiming that the
league should not compromise a national historic treasure for
short-term profit.
Engravings
From 1909 to 1916, and from 1920 until 1987, only the winning team
and year was engraved on the Grey Cup. Somehow the 1908 Canadian
Rugby Football Champions Hamilton Tigers ended up on the Grey Cup,
but the cup was first awarded in 1909. (The 1908 Tigers team was
later removed). After the 1987 season, the Grey Cup was redone.
Team members' names were added to the Grey Cup for each winning
team dating back to 1909, with room added for 20 more winning
teams. The last space was filled by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in
2007. No decision has been made on the future look of the Grey Cup
for future winning teams.
Each Grey Cup winning team has the year and team name listed first.
This is followed by the President, General Manager and Head Coach.
Every player from winning team, who was dressed in the Grey Cup
Final, is listed last in alphabetical order. Any player who was not
dressed in the Grey Cup game, has been omitted from being listed on
the Grey Cup. This includes any player who missed the Grey Cup
Final due to injuries. Some injured players were All-Stars that
season or nominated or won Individual Awards. However, there has
been no deviation from the rule. All other non-playing members are
also left off the Grey Cup. Winning teams still award Grey Cup
rings to all winning members even if their name does not appear on
the Grey Cup. In 2006, the
Toronto
Argonauts asked to have the names of late Co-owner-Actor
John Candy, and Co-Owner-hockey great
Wayne Gretzky added to the 1991
Toronto Argonauts Grey Cup team. The
CFL said yes, but it is not common
practice by the CFL to add missing names years after being
engraved.
Broadcasting
First broadcast on the
CBC in
1952, for many years the Grey Cup
has been the largest television event in Canada, regularly drawing
a combined Canadian viewing audience in excess of 4 million on the
CBC (over-the-air, in English) and
RDS (cable, in French). Starting in
2008, cable network
TSN will be
the exclusive provider of the Grey Cup for English viewers while
RDS will remain the provider for the French broadcast.
From
1962 through
1986, CBC and
CTV simulcast the Grey Cup. In
1962,
1965,
1967,
1968 and
1970,
CTV commentators were used for the dual network telecast, while in
1963,
1964,
1966 and
1969, CBC announcers were provided.
From
1971 through
1986, one network's crew called the first half
while the other called the rest of the game. After the 1986 season,
CTV dropped
their coverage of the CFL and
the Grey Cup. From
1987 through
1990, the CFL operated its own
syndicated network,
CFN.
CFN had completely separate coverage of the Grey Cup, utilizing its
own production and commentators.
In the
United
States
, the 1992 and 1993 games were on SportsChannel America, while ESPN2 televised the game from 1994 to 1997. The current broadcaster of the
Grey Cup is the
America One television
network, and its affiliates including
SportsNet New York,
Comcast SportsNet and
NESN. American sports network
Versus carried the
2008 game. ESPN, which owns 20% of TSN,
carried the
2009 game on its
ESPN360 broadband service.
Festivities
The Grey Cup game is the centre of a larger week of festivities put
on by the host cities, including concerts, gala events, and
autograph sessions. Also an important part of the event in the
halftime show which in recent years
has included major Canadian and international musical acts.
Champions
Halftime performances
See also
References
- Canadian Football
League Hall of Fame
Further reading
External links
See also
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